XCI.

Fir'd with th' idea of her future fame
She rose majestic from her lowly fted;
While from her vivid eyes a sparkling flame
Out-beaming, with unwonted light o'erspread
That monumental pile; and as her head
To every front fhe turn'd, difcover'd round
The venerable forms of heroes dead;

Who for their various merit erft renown'd,

In this bright fane of glory shrines of honour found.
XCII.

On thefe that royal dame her ravifh'd eyes
Would often feast; and ever as fhe spy'd
Forth from the ground the length'ning structure rise
With new-plac'd ftatues deck'd on every fide,
Her parent-breast would fwell with gen'rous pride.
And now with her in that fequefter'd plain,
The Knight awhile constraining to abide,
She to the Fairy Youth with pleasure fain

Thofe fculptur'd chiefs did fhew, and their great lives ex[plain".

Great lives explain.] I cannot forbear taking occafion from these words to make my acknowledgments to the writers of Biographia Britannica, for the pleasure and profit I have lately received from perufing the two firft volumes of that useful and entertaining work, of which the monumental structure above-men

D 4

tioned,

tioned, decorated with the statues of great and good men, is no improper emblem. This work, which contains the lives of the moft eminent perfons, who have flourished in Great Britain and Ireland, from the earliest ages, down to the prefent time, appears to me, as far as it has hitherto gone, to be executed with great Spirit, accuracy, and judgment; and deferves, in my opinion, to be encouraged by all, who have at heart the honour of their country, and that of their particular families and friends; and who can any ways affift the ingenious and laborious authors, to render as perfect as poffible, a defign fo apparently calculated to serve the public, by fetting in the trueft and fulleft light the characters of perfons already generally, though perhaps too indiftin&tly known; and retrieving from obfcurity and oblivion, examples of private and retired merit, which, though lefs glaring and oftentatious than the former, are not, however, of a lefs extenfive or lefs beneficial influence. To thofe, who may happen not to have seen this repofitory of British glory, I cannot give a better idea of it, than in the following lines of Virgil:

Hic manus ob patriam pugnando vulnera paffi ;
Quique facerdotes cafti, dum vita manebat;
Quique pii vates & Phabo digna locuti ;
Inventas aut qui vitam excoluere per artes;
Quique fui memores alios fecere merendo.

Virg. Æn. L. 6.

The End of the FIRST CANTO.

PEN.

PENS HURS T.

INSCRIBED TO

WILLIAM PERRY, Efq;

AND

The Honourable Mrs. ELIZABETH PERRY.

G

By the late Mr. F. COVENTRY.

ENIUS of Penfhurft old!

Who faw'ft the birth of each immortal oak,

Here facred from the ftroke

And all thy tenants of yon

Infpir'ft to arts or arms;

turrets bold,

Where Sidney his Arcadian landscape drew,

Genuine from thy Doric view;

And patriot Algernon unshaken rose

Above infulting foes;

And Sacchariffa nurs'd her angel charms.

• Sir Philip Sidney.

. Algernon Sidney.

O fuffer

O fuffer me with fober tread

To enter on thy holy fhade;
Bid fmoothly-gliding Medway ftand,
And wave his fedgy treffes bland,

A ftranger let him kindly greet,

And pour

his urn beneath my feet.

And fee where Perry opes his door

To land me on the focial floor;

Nor does the heiress of these shades deny

To bend her bright majestic eye,

Where Beauty fhines, and Friendship warm,

And Honour in a female form.

With them in aged groves to walk,
And lofe my thoughts in artless talk,

I fhun the voice of Party loud,

I fhun loose Pleasure's idle crowd,
And monkish academic cell,
Where Science only feigns to dwell,
And court, where speckled Vanity
Apes her tricks in tawdry die,

And fhifts each hour her tinfel hue,
Still furbelow'd in follies new.
Here Nature no distortion wears,

Old Truth retains his filver hairs,

And

And Chastity her matron step,
And purple Health her rofy lip.
Ah! on the virgin's gentle brow
How Innocence delights to glow!
Unlike the town-dame's haughty air,
The fcornful eye and harlot's ftare;
But bending mild the bafhful front,
As modeft Fear is ever wont :
Shepherdeffes fuch of old,

Doric bards enamour'd told,
While the pleas'd Arcadian vale
Echo'd the enchanting tale.

ECA

BIBL

BOD

But chief of Virtue's lovely train,

A penfive exile on the plain,
No longer active now to wield

FIAN

Th' avenging fword, protecting fhield,
Here thoughtful-walking Liberty
Remembers Britons once were free.
With her would Nobles old converse,
And learn her dictates to rehearfe,

Ere

yet they grew refin'd to hate

The hofpitable rural seat,

The spacious hall with tenants ftor'd,

Where Mirth and Plenty crown'd the board;

Ere